Lament of the Slave

Eleaden, a living planet? That was the biggest load of crap Lord Egerton had ever heard. And he had heard a lot at the tea sessions of the Sahal nobility and the parties under the cover of night, tassels and glitter, himself guilty of making things up to impress. But this attention-seeking bitch took her lying too far. There was a line not to cross, a certain etiquette, you might say.

Not surprising, really. A creature like her couldn’t understand such things, the little nuances of polite boasting.

The worst part was, however, that everyone in the room fell for her nonsense. First the system, now a living planet.

Lord Egerton didn’t care what the librarians and some junior recruits might think. Friends of the creature, of the Guardian of the bloody World Tree. How proud they were of it, thinking it made them something more. Fools. She was just a runaway slave, that was all. She was just lucky to have caught Deckard’s eye. The man, one of the thorns in his side, must have had a thing for hairy women; otherwise, he couldn’t explain his obsession with the beast. Traiana’s tits. The bitch talked like one; she treated them like equals. The vixen was practically a beast.

Unfortunately, he seemed to be the only one to see it.

Even his niece fell for the vixen’s lies, and now she had turned his sister against him. Granted, they were never on the best of terms. Still . . .

No, the one Egerton had to convince was that bitch Rayden. Her lieutenants would then simply follow what she believed. But he couldn’t lash out with the anger that was boiling inside him the way he had before, so he cleared his throat. “That’s a pretty bold statement, isn’t it, Rayden?” Calling her captain would be polite, given her and his position, but too blatant. There had been too much animosity between them over the years. “A living planet; that would be known.”

“Huh?” The damned tree spirit popped up next to him, nearly scaring the shit out of him. If he could, he’d banish that annoying thing from the city. “You didn’t know?”

“W-wait, Idleaf . . .” the vixen stammered, surprised herself. Her lies were crumbling. “You knew?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

A well-rehearsed act. Egerton himself had used this tactic a few times with his assistants. Quite effective; he had to give her that. “Sure, and you chose to tell us this now. You should pick more believable nonsense than a living planet.”

The spirits retreated to her so-called Guardian, pretending to be hurt. “B-but I’m not lying. You didn’t ask.”

Such a childish claim. He had them. “You see, Rayden. Just bullshit. There is no living planet.”

“Well, Egerton, you’re not the only one who finds it hard to believe.” The bitch spoke, her tone clear. He failed to get her on his side - fully. “But to do my job properly, I have to consider every potential threat.”

“Of course.” He couldn’t argue with that. “However, isn’t it also part of your job to see through the lies?” 

“I didn’t lie!” the tree spirit stomped, obviously annoyed that he had seen through her charade.

“Please, calm down, Idleaf; he didn’t say you were lying, did he, Egerton?”

He gritted his teeth. The constant tiptoeing around that damn spirit was so annoying. “No, I didn’t say that. I just find it strange that you and your slav . . .” His tongue almost slipped. “That you and your Guardian are the only ones who know about this.”

“Are you forgetting that I was there with Korra, Uncle?” Even though he liked her brother better - the boy took more after his father and stayed out of politics, meaning his business - the fact that she went missing for almost eight months was impossible to overlook. Stella was still a family, whether they both liked it or not. “Of course not. Just what you see can be confusing - especially for someone so young.”

The blood was hard to deny, and like her mother, Stella snapped. “I know what I saw, Uncle! A battlefield you can’t even imagine. Tens of thousands of beasts, the sky burning with magic, and Eleaden pressing down on my mind so hard that if I let my guard down even for a heartbeat, it would crush it to mush.”

“That’s not just talk, by the way; that would happen, literally. Brains oozing out of all your holes and stuff,” the vixen added, a smug look on her face. She was proud of herself. “And believe me, as horrible as that sounds, I think it’s the better deal. Having Eleaden in my head was far worse than having a collar around my neck. And yes, I lost that battle once and ended up seeing this planet as my master, my savior, for whom I was willing to do anything, no matter the cost to myself. And those were the beasts we fought.”

“Sounds awfully close to what we faced in the Mind Wars,” Deckard remarked, his earlier irritating ease gone. The crazy bastard was starting to take this shit, the absurdity of his apprentice, seriously. “Minus the ‘merciful death’ for humans and level 800 beasts, of course. What was the strongest one those bastards could control? Level 521?”

“Level 546 Scorching Scorpion,” Captain Rayden corrected him, massaging her shoulder. “I still have the scar.”

“Stella, I-I don’t question what you saw.” His niece had undoubtedly experienced hardship, but people tended to exaggerate. “Nor what you felt - in your head. But it could easily have been a mind mage. You said yourself that humans were stronger back then, even without the system.” Sometimes one had to accept the game of others to turn their tricks against them. 

“Honestly, Egerton - I wish you were right,” Rayden agreed, to his surprise and relief. The bitch was finally coming to her senses. “I know how to fight mind mages; what to expect from them. If they are stronger, that just means I have to try that much harder. But a planet?”

“Right? Ridiculous.”

“No, it isn’t. We’ll tell you what we know, how they fought with Eleaden back then, how they managed to hold their lands and . . .”

Raising her hand, Rayden stopped the vixen. Good, she needed to be shown her place long ago. “I demand of my men that they keep an open mind, so it would be rather hollow of me to close my eyes to the truth now. I’d have to be blind not to see that there must be more to the Oath binding the World Trees and dragons than a mind mage. Besides, if what you say about Eleaden is true, who better to know whether it is alive or not than a World Tree like Idleaf, right, Mr. Sandoval?”

What? The bitch actually believed that nonsense? And what the fuck could the old fool know about it? All he had in his head were books - and that vixen.

“W-well, their roots are said to stretch around the world,” the old man stammered, obviously wondering in a hurry what Rayden might want to hear. The bitch may have claimed not to be blind to the truth, yet her eyes were as sharp as a mole’s.

“Of course,” Mooney breathed out with ecstatic expression at the realization, with added disbelief to match the old fool’s. How someone like her could get a position as an assistant librarian in the Great Library and fall into the good graces of the Imperial Chief Healer was beyond him. There was only one way Egerton could think of. She was not bashful about spreading her legs. Maybe if he pressed her, if he threw the right kind of bait . . .

“If anyone should know, it is Idleaf,” Mooney continued, her eyes sliding from the tree spirits to the windows. “Still . . . a living planet? I - no such thing, not even the thought of it, is mentioned in any of the books.”

Books, books, books. The two bookworms had nothing else on their minds. Nevertheless, the point about the books was a good one.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but there are records of labyrinths going back thousands of years. Nothing about Eleaden being some kind of living planet; doesn’t that strike anyone as the least bit odd?” People assumed he wasn’t listening most of the time. A mistake, he let them think. Sure, most of the stuff the ordinary folk wanted him to deal with was just plain annoying. Why should he care about the crumbling pavement? That was a matter for the City Hall. He was a city lord of Castiana, baron in title and [Lord] in class. He should be concerned with matters of the Empire. Nevertheless, he listened, not knowing when a particular piece of information might come in handy - like now.

It was so good to see that vixen squirming, racking her brain to find a way to convince them of her nonsense. “I - we - Traiana and Rairok agreed it had to be the Oath.”

The Oath. He should never have consented to it. Just the thought of his soul-self, that empty, greedy stare, hungry for his life, sent shivers down his spine. 

“Care to explain, Grey?” Imperial Agent Sah, another massive thorn in his ass, that vixen shoved in there. If it weren’t for her, things would be the way they should be. Now everything that happened in Castiana was reported directly to Wagonbrei.

“It was a different kind of oath than the one we took, according to what the elder World Trees told us. Not so individual, but affecting the whole world. It was forced on everyone. The intent was to prevent anyone from revealing anything about the creation of the labyrinths and the system - and perhaps other safeguards ensuring the survival of sentient life - so that Eleaden wouldn’t be able to interfere with those safeguards.”

“Logical and also not,” the Imperial Agent grumbled. “I understand the need to keep things secret, but why make a secret out of something you’re trying to prepare your future generations for?”

“I . . . I don’t know,” the vixen stammered, finally unable to talk herself out of her lies. “Maybe people just forgot, like they forgot the purpose of the labyrinths and the system.”

“Maybe,” the Imperial Agent nodded, not really buying it. Good, very good. “But then why not remind them? Why haven’t the World Trees, the dragons, and who knows who else said anything all this time?”

Relief washed over Egerton. At last, someone saw the absurdity of the slave girl’s claim.

“If they were trying to prepare us for a fight like the one you two witnessed - you have to admit they did a damned lousy job of it,” Lieutenant Blane spoke up, with a slight hint at that system nonsense. Too clever a man for Egerton’s liking, yet if anyone in Rayden’s crew was to see through that nonsense, it was him. Truthfully, he was beginning to feel sorry for his niece. The girl probably ended up in the lower level of Fallen’s Cry and was too embarrassed to admit that she didn’t have the strength to get out. And so she and her vixen friend made up that nonsense about labyrinths, Traiana, the system, and now a living planet. She’d be better off as a storyteller than a city guard.

“Maybe that wasn’t the purpose of it altogether, I mean the labyrinths - and the system,” Egerton put forward the idea. He had to admit that sometimes - well, often - he let his anger get the better of him. However, he was no stranger to the subtle nuances of negotiation, where a gentle nudge in the right direction could make all the difference.

“It was,” the vixen barked, miffed. A sight for sore eyes. “I don’t know what happened, but the fact that nobody knows anything nowadays is not what our ancestors intended. Something must have gone wrong.”

Egerton nearly burst out laughing.

“Perhaps the older World Trees could tell us more,” his niece suggested so readily. She just didn’t know when to keep her mouth shut. “They knew about Eleaden when they proposed our Oath, didn’t they?”

“Nope, they cannot,” the tree spirit squeaked. “They are bound not to speak of the matters of Eleaden, Stella.”

“But . . .”

“They spoke only of the knowledge of the world, the labyrinths, and the system that you and Korra’leigh have gained.”

“I guess they can’t tell us why that is?” the vixen asked, to which the tree spirit made a face as if she was about to take a crap.

“Nope.”

“Did someone interfere with the Oath?”

“I’m sorry Korra’leigh, they can’t talk about that either.”

“Shit!” the vixen cursed in a huff, unable to back up her lies with the creatures she relied on so much.

“From the looks of it, we’re not going to learn anything from the trees.”

“I would venture to disagree, City Lord,” the Imperial Agent said thoughtfully. “The very fact that they can’t talk about it speaks volumes, don’t you think? I know, I know. It could be a matter of not mentioning anything about the Oath, how it was made, and how it works. It’s standard even for strong Geases, but then why suggest we take it, and more importantly, why not be able to mention if anyone interfered with theirs?”

“It shouldn’t matter unless it does.”

“Exactly, Lieutenant,” the Imperial Agent nodded to the bastard Blaine. “Based on my experience, I would venture to say that someone has tampered with the Oath and inserted conditions that were not intended by the originators.”

“Eleaden,” the vixen blurted out immediately - of course she did. She was grasping at straws.

“Hard to say, but most likely - or a beast, or a beastman under its control.”

“So the Oath became a double-edged blade,” Deckard said with a gentle smile to his apprentice, taking her all too seriously for Egerton’s liking. “While Eleaden could not learn the secrets of the labyrinths and the system, the sapient races, in turn, could not pass on information about the planet.”

“I would imagine it then did everything in its power to erase any mention of itself. Well, if it was capable of doing so,” the asshole agent continued, adding fuel to the nonsense. “At least that’s what I would have done. It could have just been the passage of time, as in the case of the labyrinths.”

“Or, on the other hand, forgetting about the labyrinths and the system could also be Eleaden’s work.”

“Good point, Deckard,” the asshole agent nodded, thinking about it some more.

“Rayden,” Egerton raised his voice. He had no choice. He needed someone else to say that the whole living planet thing was a load of crap. It had to be. “You don’t believe it, do you? I mean, if the planet was alive, we’d know.”

“I know,” the annoying tree spirit squeaked again to remind them of herself.

Massaging the bridge of her nose, Rayden sighed, eyes closed. No respect, not how he should be treated, but nothing unusual in dealing with this army woman. What irritated him more was that when she finally opened her eyes, she wasn’t looking at him. “Deckard? What do you think?”

“That it’s a tale that would have made me shit my pants as a kid. Seriously, every step you take on the ground - I don’t even know - can it feel it? What about digging? I wouldn’t want to be a farmer, let alone a miner.”

“I know. If true - well, nothing will be the same. But what do YOU think?”

The troublesome guy looked at his apprentice and Stella, leaned back in his chair and smiled. “Little Beast and Aura Blast have given me no reason not to trust them. On the contrary. And Idleaf, though sometimes too playful, is truthful by nature. Yeah, it’s shit that makes my head spin, but I . . . I mean, they built labyrinths for a reason. Whether it was for protection or training, the enemy must have been pretty damn strong, and the planet seems like a good fit on that scale, capable of destroying a civilization far more capable than ours.”

“I see; your apprentice has your trust, huh?” Rayden nodded with a smile back, considering his opinion and looking around. “I understand where Sah is coming from. Any potential threat must be taken seriously. I can relate to that. You, Egerton, on the other hand, hate change.”

“That’s not . . .” He snapped, but the bitch didn’t let him finish.

“You’re not the only one. I, too, sometimes wish things would go back to the way they were. But life doesn’t work that way. And I can’t close my eyes to what’s right in front of my nose. What I believe in is Idleaf, Egerton.”

The damn tree spirit? As soon as it came back, it was already causing problems. The last eight moons - actually, when he thought about it, the vixen was the problem. She was the reason the tree spirit came back. One like the other. They were a good match. He had to give them that.

“You can’t possibly . . .”

“What’s wrong, Private Palemoon?”

Pissed at being ignored again, he glanced at his niece. She was crying.

“Sorry, ma’am. I’m just glad you believe us.”

Rayden, the heroine of the Mind Wars, the general who held the lines, or so Stella saw her. An irritatingly stubborn woman, he thought. A fool, as it turned out.

“I do. Making sense of it, though, is another story.”

“You do? I thought - actually, I was afraid - you’d break down like Stella did back then.”

Rayden broke into that husky laugh of hers. “I daresay I’ve been through a bit more than she has, Grey. Don’t get me wrong, it hasn’t all sunk in yet. Same with the whole system thing. But I can handle it, don’t worry. Besides, if it comes to that, I’ve got skills.”

“Oh, I see . . .” the vixen breathed in realization, relief spreading across her face, while Lord Egerton’s turned red and pale at the same time. They were all willing to believe that bullshit. Doubt, however, found its way to him, eating away at his convictions. ‘Was there really a chance that Eleaden was alive? No, it couldn’t be.’

“But one thing puzzles me. If Eleaden is alive . . .”

“It is.” 

“Sorry, Idleaf. I’m still getting used to the idea. So, since Eleaden is alive, what has it been doing all these millennia?”

“Sleeping,” the tree spirit answered once more, as if it was something so obvious. But was it? Wouldn’t anyone notice?

“Hmm, that makes sense,” Rayden murmured, somewhat surprised. What made sense, however, eluded Egerton. “Not even once did Eleaden wake up?”

“Nope, trapped in dreams like me. Until Korra’leigh came.”

“So it’s dormant, hibernating like a beast, or whatever they did at the time worked,” Deckard remarked, this time without a hint of doubt in his voice. But - a living world. As the thought finally found its way into Egerton’s mind, a sense of utter insignificance overwhelmed him. Compared to Eleaden, he was nothing, just like everyone else. And he couldn’t allow that; he was more, he was a [Lord], City Lord of Castiana, and a Baron.

“We would know!” he barked. “Someone would notice. Do you know how deep the crystal mine in Mazel is? I hear it reaches down to lava lakes. And no one has reported that Eleaden might be breathing.”

“True,” the damned Imperial Agent agreed, yet . . . “However, if it’s in a deep sleep - as Idleaf here says - there might not be anything to notice in the first place. What I’m wondering is why Eleaden decided to get rid of the sentient beings to begin with. Maybe we could do something different; change its mind.”

“As my uncle mentioned. Digging deep was one of the problems,” his niece took over the made-up story, turning his words against him. While it pissed him off, he was kind of proud of her. “But it was what the dwarves dug so deep for that was the reason for Eleaden’s anger.”

“And not only that . . .” the vixen added, and she and Stella set about telling another tale. 

This time about how the ambient mana was that of Eleaden and the same was the pure mana wells. In their tale, it was unclear who was first, whether elves, dragons, other beasts, or even humans, but over time, each of the races found a way to use the ambient mana for their own purposes, unaware of what they were doing - at first. Eventually, the ambient mana had thinned, and the pure mana wells had dried up. But they did not realize they were harming the planet itself until it turned against them - far too late. 

To make it even more entertaining, they threw in some supposed theories from their ancestors about how it was some sort of immune response to the disease that humans and other races had become. And even one about how their two moons were the children of Eleaden, and the planet needed mana to feed them.

“So not only Eleaden, but moons as well?” Egerton questioned in disbelief. However, his voice reflected his inner surrender. In fact, fear settled in his heart. If this was all true . . . “Pure mana wells are just rumors.”

“Not rumors, my lord,” the old fool corrected him, and his library assistant echoed him. 

“There are records of them. The last one, in Sahal, was discovered shortly before the Mind Wars.”

“And depleted during them,” the Imperial Agent noted, striking more fear into his heart. They were doing what their ancestors had done, and now they were doomed. “We must not awaken the planet.”

Disbelief at what came out of his mouth washed over him, but panic drowned out any rational thought. A few heartbeats later, a warm feeling washed over him and he regained his composure - Rayden’s aura. He hated himself for needing it, yet he was glad. Not something Egerton would admit to Rayden, even under torture.

“Okay, gals,” the bitch in question spoke, her voice ringing with the authority of a general he knew quite well. His old man used it when things went sour, or when he and his sister caused trouble. “There is a lot to take in, but tell us everything you know about Eleaden, a living planet. Anything you can think of that might help us . . .”